Pfizer CEO cancels Israel visit in apparent help to Netanyahu’s campaign
Head of the American multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer has cancelled his scheduled visit to Israel so the trip could coincide with the regime’s upcoming elections.
Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, announced on Friday that the next week’s trip to Israel had been postponed claiming he and his delegation had not been fully immunized against COVID-19.
Pfizer confirmed Thursday that the planned visit had been postponed for several days, but when pressed to confirm the reason for the cancellation, it declined to comment.
The US firm said Bourla’s trip is expected to be delayed to late spring “when coronavirus restrictions are lifted or improve, and allow better visiting conditions.”
The Pfizer’s CEO was set to arrive in Israel on March 8, just 15 days before the March 23 election, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scrambling to gain enough support at a time that the occupying entity is severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Israeli activists have called for the cancellation of Bourla’s visit, which they said was a “prohibited election propaganda” as it would be used by the prime minister for his own benefit in the upcoming vote.
Netanyahu has on several occasions hailed his personal rapport with Bourla as a major reason why Israel was able to secure large quantities of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines to contain the health crisis.
The election — the fourth in two years — is largely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s rule amid his ongoing trial on widespread corruption charges, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For several months, Israel has been the scene of massive protest rallies held by people who want the controversial prime minister to quit power.
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